“high/low check-in”

Many companies have identified a set of company values. These are supposed to serve as a North Star and the filter through which you assess everything you do – as individuals and as a team. But a list of values without a system to monitor your alignment with them is a waste. So to ensure that you are living your values and giving yourselves no place to hide, consider doing a “high/low check-in” at the beginning of your weekly staff meetings.

Read your list of values. (At Thrive, it sounds like this: Know the Purpose, Each and Every, Think Accurately, Be Transparent (surprise, surprise), Raise the Bar and Be Great With People.)

Then one-by-one each team member shares one high and one low. The high is a personal example or an instance that behavior that week met a value with high success. The low is an incidence where that person fell short of living up to the value.

This is practice is not always easy (I mean, no one likes to regularly admit their failures) but creates the kind of culture that makes better people and partners:

It cultivates humility and vulnerability

Being vulnerable helps to develop deeper relationships

Deep relationships provide incredible support

Being fully supported creates a sense of safety

Feeling safe encourages people to take risks, be creative, trust and innovate, which is a formula for success – as a company and as individuals.

The alternative to this? Hiding. Hiding the mistakes we make. Did you know that employees spend 50% of their time hiding their inadequacies? That is a lot of wasted productivity. We would rather share these weaknesses and let our teammates help us find solutions or provide support. We love this HBR podcast with Lisa Lahey and Robert Kegan or you can read their book An Everyone Culture to learn more. Whatever system you create to help you and your teammates live your values, create transparency or increase your emotional intelligence, we hope that it also contributes to a culture of support and growth. We all deserve to work in a place that allows us to grow and thrive.